Is the Door Open for Concealed Carry in Wisconsin?

Gunadvocates are hailing the U.S. Supreme Court decision on Chicago’s tough handgun ban, saying thatstate and local laws cannot ban individuals from keeping firearms in theirhomes, a right that is protected by the Second Amendment.

So does thisdecision mean that Wisconsin’sstatute banning concealed weapons is going to be struck down?

That’s opento debate. The ban will most likely be challenged in state courts, MilwaukeeCounty District Attorney John Chisholm predicted. But the outcome is uncertainbecause the Supreme Court did not rule on state and local restrictions on gunsin public.

Even conservativeJustice Samuel Alito wrote in Monday’s decision that reasonable laws preventingthe mentally ill and felons would not be affected by the Chicago handgun ban ruling.

That said, Wisconsin’s concealedcarry ban could be vulnerable.

TheWisconsin Supreme Court’s most recent decision on concealed carryin 2003, onwhether a business owner has the right to keep a concealed gun in hisstoreupheld the ban. But it also showed that the Wisconsinjustices were concerned about the “overbreadth of the concealed carry statuteas a whole,” Chisholm said.

That’s whatcould be challenged in the courts.

Chisholmsaid the state Legislature needs to develop a comprehensive gun reform packagethat affirms Second Amendment protections but also includes regulations thatprotect public safety. That could include background checks on all gun sales aswell as a concealed carry permitting system that makes concealed carry of afirearm without a permit a felony. That would keep firearms out of the hands ofthose who shouldn’t have gunsthe mentally ill, minors and felons, for example.

“We need tolook at it as a comprehensive public safety package that would assure peoplethat their access and right to keep firearms isn’t going to be impinged in anyway and at the same time allows public safety officials a reasonable way ofpreventing dangerous people from having firearms,” Chisholm said. “I stillargue it can be done.”

“Thedecision basically strikes down Chicago’shandgun ban in homes,” Bonavia said. “But it didn’t go further than that. Itdoesn’t eliminate or eliminate the possibility of any other types of gunviolence prevention or regulations.”

She saidthat those concerned about gun violence shouldn’t be disheartened by theSupreme Court’s ruling.

“In someways it’s beneficial to us because it takes the extremes off the table and thesides can’t be talking about either no guns or guns everywhere all the time,”Bonavia said. “Now maybe we can actually get to work on that middle groundwhere the vast majority of Americans think we should be anyway, and seriouslytalk about what we can be doing to prevent gun violence in an effective waythat respects the Second Amendment as defined by the Supreme Court.”

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Comments (3)

so anyone convicted for a felony can not carry,tha...

so anyone convicted for a felony can not carry,that includes people who spat on the street convicted of a felony.people who owe child support can not because they are felons.why dosnt the state break it down,what outside of a regular convicted felon makes a person a felon?outside of murder,rape,arson,kiddnapping,gun running (tsa) department.and demestic abuse.if every little thing a person dose becomes a felony,hell we already lost our constatutional rights to carry in wis-con-sin.

Anonymousmore than 6 years ago

Dear Fellow Wisconsite,Now is the time to reclaim ...

Dear Fellow Wisconsite,Now is the time to reclaim our natural-born right to self-defense. Come January, we will have a Republican Governor and majorities in the Senate and Assembly. Let's hope our legislators recognize these rights and pass a "Constitutional Carry" bill. Please follow the link to find out how you can help http://www.wisconsinccw.org/
"Laws that forbid the carrying of arms disarm only those who are neither inclined nor determined to commit crimes. Such laws make things worse for the assaulted and better for the assailants; they serve rather to encourage than prevent homicides, for an unarmed man may be attacked with greater confidence than an armed one."~ Thomas Jefferson 1764

Anonymousmore than 7 years ago

I generally am for private ownership of firearms...

I generally am for private ownership of firearms. I think that it is important for the public to own firearms for personal protection, as that is what our founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the second amendment.While I do think concealed carry should be legal, I HIGHLY support background checks and preventative measures to keep guns from people who are not allowed to have guns (felons and the mentally unstable, ect) and measures to ensure that if the person is carrying concealed, he/she is responsible and is properly trained. Laws that make it hard for the responsible law abiding citizen to own/carry a gun are not fair. You should expect a background check if your going to buy a gun, but not a sea of paperwork, months of waiting, and strict regulations that were made for the sole purpose of making it difficult on the average citizen to own a firearm. I think a fair median needs to come between firearm ownership and gun control.

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